Rationale

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Asylum seekers and refugees come to the Federal Republic of Germany for the most varied of reasons. They seek protection from political, religious and other forms of persecution. They seek protection from human humiliation, from war and civil war, from natural disasters and famine and from many other things. The word “refugee” is used with at least three different meanings: a) according to civil law, refugees are people who leave their home country due to justified fear of persecution because of their race, religion, nationality, political persuasion or their membership of a social group. b) German law distinguishes between two groups of refugees, depending on whether they are designated in terms of the Geneva refugee convention or according to another legal basis. c) After the 1993 negotiations regarding an alteration to the article on asylum of the German Basic Law between the federal political parties, the decision was made that the opportunity should be made available to provide additional protection for people who are fleeing from war or civil war outside the realms of the asylum procedure. An immigration procedure was established in § 32 of immigration law for so called war and civil war refugees. The following target groups are considered in a legal settlement on groups of refugees in Germany and those who come under the categories represented in the EQUAL support guidelines on the subject of asylum seekers: Asylum seekers who are currently undergoing the asylum procedure Subsequent asylum applicants (until acceptance of application) Legally declined asylum seekers with connivance according to §§ 53 55 of immigration law Persons seeking protection who have applied for permission to stay in the country and have only received connivance Former war and civil war refugees with authorisation to stay in the country according to § 32a of immigration law or connivance Spouse or juvenile that belongs to one of the above groups The flight of people is generally a migration that stems from the pressure of danger to life and so a hopeless situation. The experiences before and during flight are frequently combined with unimaginable strains on the refugees. These strains are intensified by a particularly difficult life situation in Germany which is characterised by the following elements: Loneliness and isolation, separation from friends, relatives and acquaintances, feelings of estrangement and problems of orientation, an extremely uncertain future, helplessness and uncertainty regarding administrative and legal procedures, dependence on the help of others, the experience of racism and rejection, etc. Their residential status is insecure, they are living with the constant danger of deportation and their access to the employment market and to training and further education is partially blocked. Even the opportunity for a school education is not necessarily available to them. A qualified general and vocational education, training and employment are stabilising factors, particularly in this very situation and add structure to daily life and gradually leads to reinforcement of self confidence and independence and the tendency to combat de qualification. Racism and discrimination against foreigners have reached a level in Thuringia that is clearly contributing to a tangible loss of image for this cultural and business location. The increasing open attacks and acts of violence against immigrants as well as the demonstrative exclusion of foreigners urgently demand the introduction of regional measures of socio political correction. The basic prerequisite for such a sustained action is the production of opportunities for direct contact between Germans and immigrants, whether it be in a private or cultural environment or in working or training situations. The proportion of foreigners in the population of the free state of Thuringia (around 2.5 million) is approximately 1.7% which means about 41,600 people. Additionally, approximately 7,200 asylum seekers and refugees live in Thuringia at the moment along with a group of further immigrants who cannot be shown statistically, e.g. late emigrants. Asylum seekers make up 18% of non Germans in Thuringia measured against the already low number of foreigners in this state. Despite their statistically almost insignificant number, large parts of the population see this group as an unbearable load for the social security system and the regional job market. On the other hand, no attention is paid to the fact that they are generally excluded from the social security system and that they are at the end of the queue in the job market. Most Thuringian asylum seekers are accommodated in communal living quarters. The duration of support for this group has risen from an average of 6.4 months to 12.1 months since 1994. The average age of this group has, however, remained almost constant over the same period at 23.9 years old. Thuringia is mainly characterised by rural structures there are very few larger towns, the largest of Thuringian towns, Erfurt has approximately 201,000 inhabitants. Therefore, the majority of communal accommodation is situated at a great distance from the larger towns. Contact between members of individual ethnic, cultural and religious groups is inevitably greatly limited by this spatial situation which is due to structural conditions and this situation cannot be compared to the situation in Frankfurt, Hamburg or Berlin. It is not insignificant that encounters with foreigners are traditionally more extraordinary in Thuringia's rural regions with regard to integration into everyday life. The following are some further points on the living situation of refugees in Thuringia: Support for asylum seekers who live in communal residences have been almost exclusively tangible assets since 1998 according to Thuringian asylum law; The credit vouchers that are given to foreigners are only accepted in a small number of shopping outlets and or consequently subject to a strictly regimented selection of consumer goods; There is no special accommodation for women who are travelling on their own; Refugee children are not subject to

compulsory education, school attendance is fully dependent on initiatives of the parents or guardians; The lack of educational support increases with the increase in age of refugee children with regard to vocational education and occupational activities for refugee youths; This problem is particularly noticeable in the lack of occupational activities for refugees. The problem is exacerbated by the marginal refugee accommodation and language barriers in Thuringia's already extremely overburdened job market. There is no actual employment exchange for refugees who have entered Thuringia after the 15th May 1997 because of the employment ban of 31.12.2000 and the job centre priority examination this also applies to participation in vocational training courses and educational courses; Social work positions are generally allocated to the communal accommodation. This means that many social workers who work with refugees are directly employed by the accommodation management and frequently have to carry out caretaker duties or perform simple maintenance tasks. The conflict of interests that arises from this prevents qualified care in particular necessary psycho social care from being offered to the refugees. There are only scattered independent advice centres for refugees a completely inaccessible offer for asylum seekers with regard to access. There is psycho social centre for refugees whatsoever; There is no usable overview of the available qualifications of refugees in Thuringia. There is equally a lack of knowledge of the vocational and academic qualifications obtained by refugees in their country of origin which may be in demand in Germany. The loss of vocational competence is not named as a main problem by refugees at the few advice centres that exist, independent of whether they intend to remain in Germany over a longer period of time or are able to return to their country of origin. Only a few of the refugees in Thuringia speak German. On the whole, it can be established that this target group of the regional DP is an extremely heterogeneous group with different cultural, religious, language and social backgrounds and with extremely different educational qualifications and work experience. This situation requires the development of highly flexible training instruments in the framework of the development partnership.

Objective

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At the start of the project, 3 areas of responsibility are established: a) the establishment of a network of participants, b) the development of a concept of project content and methods, c) the selection of methods of analysis and checking for the both the general objectives and particularly for the gender aspect. The process of strategic selection of partners that is necessary to establish these areas of responsibility should contain the following different criteria: Access to the asylum seekers, origins of the applicants forasylum (social security offices, administrations, churches,initiatives, regional and community associations) Qualification of asylum seekers (educational institutions, jobcentres, universities, vocational schools) Business work placements internships or employment in regularwork; Establishment of a livelihood (Chamber of Industry andCommerce, job centres)At the same time, the collection of data on the situation of refugees which guarantee a fundamental selection of modules on the basis of existing skills of the target group had to be made.The measures to gain access to the target group will reappear when looking at the main points in the first working phase and will also include access to the target groups, such as the opening of opportunities for the establishment of the regional support structure. The duration of the project has been set at 42 months. Preparation, qualification, advice and care duties will be co ordinated and documented in parallel at three working levels within this period of time. Gender mainstreaming measures will be offered as cross section themes at all levels even at evaluation level. These measures will be taken as appropriate to the requirements according to the sensibilities of incorporated networks and key figures and institutions. The temporal construction allows the project to develop according to the rotation principle. On the one hand, this corresponds to the demand for flexibility and wide spectrum of efficiency of the measures and on the other hand the time management optimises the conditions for corrective observation of the processes.The number of participants who are directly involved in the qualification process is set at 48 participants within this pilot project and they will take part in three consecutive measures. The first working phase will involve the preparation of the qualification measures and the initiation of necessary contacts to strategic partnerships. The basic starting points for all of the above mentioned working levels (qualification, promotion of the regional support structure, multiplier and evaluation work) will be established already at the beginning of the first working phase , which will have its main point of emphasis focussed on a comprehensive situation and location analysis. The experience of the project leaders which is already

available and their networks which have already been established both at an information level and at a practical level will make a fast lead in to the project possible and allow the establishment of a platform to work from. At the beginning of the second working phase, (qualification phase 1), 16 asylum seekers or refugees, who fit the corresponding entrance requirements will be united into a measure which can be described as a modular adaptation system. This system can be described in this way because the transitions to each individual module can take place smoothly and can be taken over differing lengths of time according to the level of qualification of each individual. One module, which will be taken by all participants at the same level will provide language tuition and this module will be given priority. The maximum duration of a language module is 3 months, the subsequent adaptation system also lasts for three months this results in a total duration of 6 months. Each module is completed with a certified graduation certificate. After completion of the first qualification block, the participants are passed on to another educational establishment, which has been previously selected according to the courses on offer and the suitability of their content. The transition to other educational institutions should be relatively free of problems as most adult education is modular. Participation in practical training in regional enterprises should be an essential component of the project. No more than 1 to 3 participants can take part will be allocated to an external measure in each case. This will avoid encounters with problems of capacity on the contrary: the construction of the regular measures will lead to a more effective capacity in most cases. The regular duration of rest periods will again be 6 months within an “open” qualification measure. This will result in a total duration of 12 months for each participant. Concrete structural requirements for the multiplier work will follow from an initial fundamental evaluation of the whole process and the evaluation of the results of this first practical phase also with regard to the experiences of practical placements in businesses. The courses on offer will, therefore, relate to the trainers, the teaching staff, the social workers in the accommodation institutions and advice centres as well as to the employees of the authorities. This process should serve to reinforce the representation of interests in particular and should at the same time reach a wide public. Experience of other national and international partnerships will have additional influence on this. The position should be quickly reached that not only results are collected, but also that these results become a self structuring synergetic part of the process through the dialogue orientated process evaluation. A follow up measure, again with 16 participants and with a maximum duration of 12 months will be introduced 9 months after the start of the first project measures. This process will be repeated for a third time and run until the end of the project.The development of guidelines is also a central objective in the analysis of the evaluation data and their subsequent documentation in the form of a final report. These guidelines should contribute to the promotion of intercultural and non racist educational work and to offer sustainable support for the process of the formation of projects in other parts of the region. The training course themselves take the heterogeneous nature of the target group into account in so far as they incorporate basic levels of qualification as well as additional university level qualifications. Social pedagogical and psycho social help, support and encouragement in linguistic areas and areas of subject theory and particularly in multiplier training are provided in all regional projects along with the qualifications on offer. In particular, the training of multipliers, which incorporates both the actual training personnel, the employees and the civil service officials, has a significant position in the translation of the EP results and is, therefore, also significant for the sustained effect on standard measures in the framework of the horizontal mainstreaming process.